Help for Homeowners Facing Foreclosure

November 20, 2008

Everyone seems to agree that flooding the market with empty, foreclosed homes does not help neighborhoods maintain stability – either as a way of living, or regarding the value of homes. Empty homes do nothing for a neighborhood.

Recently some organizations are taking tentative steps to allow homeowners who are defaulting on their mortgage to remain in their homes –at least for the time being.

Fannie and Freddie Mac have announced that they are freezing foreclosure sales until after the new year while they review strategies and the future of their organizations. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. recently announced foreclosure-prevention programs that aim to reduce interest rates, extend repayment schedules and, in the case of Citigroup, reduce loan amounts, to help borrowers keep their homes. But the programs have focused primarily on loans wholly owned by those companies because they feel they have more authority to rework those mortgages.

HSBC is also making more options available to more people. For example, it is contacting customers before their adjustable-rate loans reset to higher rates and freezing the current rate or allowing the borrower to pay a rate below what the new rate would be. The bank also is lowering fixed rates for selected borrowers. All this in an effort to stave of foreclosures.

One way of stabilizing markets where supply exceeds demand is to regulate supply. That way the people who can buy homes can buy from sellers who can’t afford to stay in their current home. But, amazingly enough, new home construction is still going on – even in saturated markets. Merrill Lynch economist David Rosenberg suggests, only half-jokingly, that the Treasury should impose a moratorium on home building. "It sounds like lunacy, but we have to destroy the housing capital stock to help put a floor under the market," he said.

As of 11/22/09 the Michelle Talbott RePage is ranked at 4,415 with 50 points.
The monthly top RePage owner will receive a cash prize. Help this agent by bookmarking this site and posting it to blogs and other Web pages and encourage others to visit.

Local Information for Florence, SC

Latitude: 34.184088 -- Longitude: -79.774147

Other Area Cities: Florence Darlington

Enter our Photo Sweepstakes and Win $200 for your Florence photos!

To see random photos for other cities Click Here.

Submit your photos of Florence and become eligible to win $200. Click Here for details.

Florence is the county seat of and largest city in Florence CountyGR6 South Carolina, United States. This 1997 All-America City finalist, with its historic homes and towering medical center towers, came together to form a cultural center for the northeastern portion of South Carolina. The city population was 30,248 as of the 2000 census (67,314 total pop. of Florence Urbanized Area). The Florence metropolitan statistical area, which consists of Florence and Darlington counties, was estimated at 198,443 inhabitants in 2005 by the U.S. Census Bureau, though nearly half of this population is classified as rural. Florence is the primary city of "Pee Dee" region of South Carolina, an area that includes the eight counties of northeastern South Carolina along with sections in southeastern North Carolina.Florence has become a major biomedical and financial center of the eastern carolinas. Many financial institutions and banking centers have regional offices located in the city. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

South Carolina 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Florence	South Carolina	United States
Population	30,248	4,012,012	281,421,906
Median age	36.8	35.4	35.3
Median age for Male	35	34	34
Median age for Female	38.5	36.7	36.5
Households	11,925	1,533,854	105,480,101
Household population	29,093	3,876,975	273,643,273
Average household size	2.44	2.53	2.59
Families	7,878	1,072,822	71,787,347
Average family size	3.03	3.02	3.14
Housing units	13,090	1,753,670	115,904,641
Occupied units	11,925	1,533,854	105,480,101
Vacant units	1,165	219,816	10,424,540

Visit US Census